"The ethos," says Norby, "was to blend in and respect nature, be part of it."
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Stories by Matthew Lickona
Grape Landscape
Christian City Church San Diego, Carmel Valley
The resource table by the entrance to the gymnasium that hosted Christian City Church San Diego offered several titles from CCC founder Phil Pringle: You The Leader, Leadership Excellence, Keys to Financial Excellence . The …
June 28, 2007
Shelf-Talkers and The Sweet Spot
"Everybody was cutting throats, giving stuff away just to bring the customer in."
June 28, 2007
The Congregational Church of La Jolla
"This song, 'Joyful, Joyful,' comes from Beethoven's Ninth," said a man to the woman next to him as he perused the bulletin before the service began. Apparently, she had sung the Ninth before, in another …
June 21, 2007
Local Blend
"I knew I wanted mountain fruit - a little bit of a clunky, rustic quality."
UCSD philosophy major Andre Niemeyer is followed around
Sentence one: Lois Lane believes that Superman can fly. Sentence two: Lois Lane believes that Clark Kent can fly. Sentence one is true. Sentence two is false, because Lois Lane doesn't know that Superman and …
June 14, 2007
St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Hillcrest
Shafts of gold radiated from the nexus of the crucifix hanging above the tabernacle at St. John the Evangelist. A tall wooden frame, carved with images of grapes and wheat, surrounded both and also served …
June 14, 2007
Church of the Good Shepherd, Bonita
"As we gaze at your kingly brightness/ So our faces display your likeness/ Ever changing from glory to glory/ Mirrored here, may our lives tell your story. Shine, Jesus, shine..." Those lines from the opening …
June 7, 2007
Paradise Valley Seventh-Day Adventist Church, National City
A wide range of musical styles carried a wide range of religious sentiments during the first half of the Sabbath service. Old-timey hymn piano, keeping the beat under the opening songs: "Majesty, worship His majesty/ …
May 31, 2007
Dirt Simple
"There are thousands of people in this country who would kill to design a wine label."
May 31, 2007
Flood, Kearny Mesa
Denomination: associated with the Baptist General Conference Address: services held at Kearny High School, 7651 Wellington Way, Kearny Mesa, 858-268-2330 Founded locally: 2005 (as independent entity) Senior pastor: Matt Hammett Congregation size: 1600 Staff size: …
May 24, 2007
Customized
"We ended up making an illegal amount of wine in my garage - something like ten barrels."
May 24, 2007
Collaborate, Communicate
"We would call them the "get drunk and take off your T-shirt" crowd."
May 17, 2007
Existence Church, Miramar
"My brother doesn't go to church," said Pastor Josh Hotsenpiller before the service. "We came from this 'perfect Christian family'" -- Dad was a Baptist pastor -- "and my brother rejected the church. I wanted …
May 10, 2007
Wikis, Mashups, All That
"Wine is the only beverage on the planet that draws people together, right?"
Spottswoode Matures
"They paid about $300 a ton... The more sugar, the better. Flavor was not a question."
May 3, 2007
Jim & Casper Go to Church
"Jesus came to start a movement, not an institution," says Jim Henderson, coauthor of Jim & Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversations about Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians . "As far as I can see, …
May 3, 2007
Sauvignon Misunderstood
"Those of us who had been wringing our hands all that time in California said, "Well, yeah."
South Bay Community Church, National City
"This is one of the best churches that I've ever been to," said congregant John. "It's kind of like God's little secret. If you come here at nine o'clock, you'll see the other room set …
April 26, 2007
The Devil in His Cellar
"France is known for great wine, but that will never happen down here, because we're just South America."
April 19, 2007
St. John the Beloved Cathedral, Hillcrest
"I've been to some places that consider themselves liberal and accepting," said one congregant at St. John the Beloved. Those qualities were important to him because he was both gay and divorced. "But for them, …
April 19, 2007
"They're very German" their whole mentality is, "We've been here for 600 years."
'You'll notice these labels don't look like German labels," says Damon Goldstein, walking me through his storeroom at Truly Fine Wine on Morena. What he means is that the labels are relatively simple -- no …
April 12, 2007
Death is like a birth canal
A sort of cutout bas-relief depiction of Leonardo's Last Supper stood on an easel outside the Friendship Hall at University Christian Church. Inside, at the front of the hall, a long table stood empty, glowing …
April 12, 2007
Royal Riesling
The first tasting was in the Rheinhessen; the cellarmaster was a 90-year-old woman.
Metropolitan Community Church, Hillcrest
"I was at Shadow Mountain for 17 years, from the time I was 19," said Metropolitan Community Church congregant (and choir member) Kelly Holmes when I spoke with him. "I was gay the whole time. …
April 5, 2007
Wine Geeks with Flash Cards
"I would get all crazy about how beautiful the vineyards are in fall or about how the air smells like wine during crush."
Faith Presbyterian Church, College Area
From the outset, a mix of old and new marked the service in Faith Presbyterian's mid-century- modern church. The old standby "What Wondrous Love Is This" served as the prelude, but the organ arrangement mixed …
March 29, 2007
"It's nice that in a city like San Diego there are so many places I would send people to."
Small world. Jeff Morgan, co-founder of a winery founded on the notion of making rosé its flagship product, gets invited to San Diego by the local chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food. …
March 22, 2007
Shadow Mountain Community Church, El Cajon
"Signs of Life," read the banners affixed to the light poles in the parking lot. In the church vestibule, piles of take-home magnets bore images and Scripture verses explaining the signs. Week three was Worn-Out …
March 22, 2007
Up with Rose
"Lancers was developed to appeal to American military servicemen toward the end of World War II."
March 15, 2007
Kaleo Church, Mission Valley
Instead of preshow trivia, the onscreen slideshow at the movie theater showed Kaleo Church's announcements. (Like the preshow trivia, they proved difficult to ignore.) "We partner with Abandoned But Precious ministries, which serves orphans in …
March 15, 2007
Sniff, Sip, Spit
'You're all super-palates, you know," said Jeff Morgan to the crowd gathered in the San Diego Art Institute's Palette dining room. "If you weren't super-palates, you wouldn't be interested enough to sit here and listen …
March 8, 2007
Emmanuel Faith Community Church, Escondido
Tim Mayfield stood at the pulpit, ringed about with congregants before and musicians behind -- perhaps a hundred choristers fronted by a small orchestra. The organ sounded out, and he led everybody in song: "O …
March 8, 2007
The Wine Can't Lie
"Flavor, in terms of wine quality, is secondary. It is important, but it is secondary."
The Immaculata, University of San Diego
The stained-glass windows of the Immaculata church showed black against their creamy stone frames as congregants gathered for the evening Mass on Ash Wednesday. Bare, twisted tendrils rose up from the vases placed on pedestals …
March 1, 2007
Buyers and Cellars
"It's valuable to see the date integrated -- if every time you log in there's a gauge saying, "Everything's A-OK.""
February 22, 2007
St. James by the Sea Episcopal Church, La Jolla
Swaths of rough white stucco surrounded the stained-glass windows at St. James by the Sea. The windows -- saints above and the life of Christ below -- were tastefully small, yet rendered dramatic through their …
February 22, 2007
Vision: A Center for Spiritual Living, Tierrasanta
Small signs lined the driveway leading up the drive to the first gathering of Vision: A Center for Spiritual Living. "Love," "Grow," "Prosper," "Embrace," "Live," "Share." Green and gold balloons bearing the Vision logo ringed …
February 15, 2007
A Community Of Tasters
"Wines that sell for $65 to $90 off the mailing list routinely fetch $400 to $500 a bottle on the secondary market."
February 15, 2007
Horizon Christian Fellowship, Clairemont
"Come, now is the time to worship," crooned the praise leader to the congregation. Then he turned his call to heaven: "Come, Lord Jesus, come." Then back to the people: "Let the pain and the …
February 8, 2007
Welcome to the Neighborhood
"If people are this generous and this willing to teach others about wine, it can't be a bad hobby."
February 8, 2007
Plane rides and finances require trust in God
"We have a new song today," announced worship director Janet Werdowatz. "It's a new song by Chris Tomlin called, 'Made to Worship.' We were made to worship Him -- that is our first purpose of …
February 1, 2007
Strangers in Wine Land
"But they're Mexican wines, which most people haven't heard of, and that gives them a bit of cachet."
New Godfather In Town
"My goal is to make California-class wines in Ramona."
East Clairemont Southern Baptist Church
Nearly everything about East Clairemont Southern Baptist's church was unabashedly midcentury Modern, from the rust-orange carpet and pew cushions to the rough-face concrete block to the space-age chandeliers to the quarter-circle shape of the place, …
January 25, 2007
Mexico's Tuscan Spirit
"It's kind of a geographical expression of how I'd love my life to be!"
St. Mark's United Methodist Church, Clairemont
Glass, stained in various shades of smoky watercolor blue -- indigo, teal, cornflower -- covers nearly all of the church's side and back walls. Here and there, slashes of red and orange catch the light, …
January 18, 2007
Wine Online
"What I want to sell people on is the concept of discovering."